Health care organizations, telehealth vendors and service providers should adopt specific security practices to protect against hacks and breaches, particularly given the massive increase in the use of telehealth and telemedicine stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council, a public-private partnership focusing on critical infrastructure security and resilience.

The council recently released a report, Health Industry Cybersecurity - Securing Telehealth and Telemedicine,^[1] that details best practices for telehealth and telemedicine, and is urging industry stakeholders to adopt those recommendations.

According to the council, cybersecurity efforts in telehealth should focus on closing threat windows and minimizing surfaces vulnerable to attack. Best practices should include: